Art of manufacturing armored electric cables.



No. 724,570. PATENTED APBn 7, 1903. E. T. GREENFIELD.

ART OF MANUFACTURING ARMORED ELECTRIC GABLES.

APPLICATION rum) JULY 31, 1902. no MODEL. 1 =5 sums-sum 1,.

1m mummy:

Grier/11c 'PATENTED APR, 7,1903. E. T. GREENFIELD. ART OF MANUFACTURINGARMORED ELECTRIC GABLES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 31, 1902.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

KO' MODEL.

Even 62":

No. 724,570. PATENTED APR, 7, 1903. E. T. GREENFIELD.

ART OPMAN'UPAGTURING ARMORED ELECTRIC GABLES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY a1, 1902. 50 MODEL.

5 SHEETS-SHEET s.

ul q} in ax No. 724,570. PAIENTED APR. '7, 190

E. T. GREENPIELD. ARTOF MANUFACTURING ARMDRED ELECTRIC GABLES.

APPLIOATIOI? FILED JULY 81, 1902. N0 MODEL.

6 SHEETS-SIUJET 4.

' PATENTED APR: 7, 1908.

E. T. GREENPIE ART OF MANUFACTURING ARMORE LEQ TRIG GABLES. APPLICATIONFILED JULY 31, 1902.

OOOOO BL. 5 SHEETS-SHEET 6 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN T. GREENFIELD, OF MON TI CELLO, NEW YORK.

ART OF MANUFACTURING ARIMORED ELECTRIC CABLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 724,570, dated April 7,1903. A plicant]; 516a July 31, 1962.. we at. 117, 09. (No model.)

To all? whom, it may concern:

Be itknown that I, EDWIN T. GREENFIELD, acitizen of the UnitedStates,'residin g at Montl'celloi, in'the county of Sullivan and Stateof New York, have made a new and useful Inv'en:

ftion in the Art of Manufacturing Armored Electric Cables, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention is directed particularly to improvements upon the method ofarmoring cables and manufacturing tubes disclosed in United StatesPatents Nos. 6,30,502aud I 630,503, granted to me on the 8th day ofAugust, 1899; and it has for its object the manufacture of armoredelectric cables of;great lengths-such, fol-instance, as are used in ocean telegraphy or in various conductor systems of electricity. 1 With themechanism disclosed in my'before-mentioned United States 'Patent No.630,502 only a limited amount of cable may be armored, owing to the factthat with such mechanism the cable is rotated as it is armoredand-is-wound upon a reel, which also rotates with it. It is obvious,therefore, that a cable of great length cannot be thus arrnored, owingto the immense mass or weight thereof, as it is'wou-n'd upon the reel.

' The essential feature of my present invention isitherefore to permitof the manufacture of this type of cable in such lengths as canconveniently be transported from place to place, the weight of the samewhen completed constituting the only limit "as to the length of cablethus armored.-

Inpracticing the improved method hereinafter described and claimed thear'moring mechanism and armoring material rotate around the cable, andthe latter does not rotate, but is fed continuously forward by thear'moring action, so that it is pOssibIe'toar- I mm a cable ofindefinite length, and this is ary to armor electric,v cables by windingwire.

accomplished by forcing the armoring material }constautly forward aroundthe cable and giving to it a fixed orfset position when tounwind-therefrom,

Prior to my invention'it had been custom spirally therearound 5 but witha cable so arthe armor, which consists of thin metal strips, is forcedendwise aroundthe cable continumored it is necessary when the same issevered or cut to bind with other material the ends of the armor aboutthe severed ends, owing to the fact that said armor is not set or fixedclosely about the exterior surface of the insulated cable. Myimprovement con-. templates thepractice of a method whereby ously and insuch manner that when in place it will assume a set or fixed position,such that the cable may be severed at any point and that there will beno tendency for it to unwind. In the application of this genericprinciple in the manner hereinafter described, so as to manufacturecables of great length, lies the essence of my invention.

- For a full. and clear understanding of the invention, such as willenable others skilled; in the art to construct and use the same, "ref-nerence is bad to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a sideelevational view of the entire machine. Fig. 2 is a planview thereof asseen looking at Fig. 1 from the top toward the bottom of the drawing,some of the driving'gear-wheels and the brake-controlling levers beingshown in dotted lines. Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the brokenline mm, Fig. 2, and as seen looking thereat from the bottom toward thetop of'- the drawing in the direction of the arrows. Fig. 4 is anenlarged plan view of that part of the mechanism which controls themovements of the armoring-strips, the interior of the dies being alsoillustrated in this view with the top die removed and an insulatedelectric cable shown in position in the act of being armored. 0

vational view. a Referring now to the drawings in detail, and first toFigs. 1 to 3, inclusive, 2 2 rep the frame which supports all of saidparts,

the dies being shown in this figure in endfele j '1 resent the legs orstandards of the machine, '10

preferably four in number, secured directly .to the floor by bolts, and1 the base or frame thereof, secured'in turn in a similar mannerdirectly to the upper ends of saidlegs or ,motion to all ofltheinterconnected standards. 6 represents a rotary table, made, preferably,of iron and secured directly by bolts to the upper end of a hollowrotatable shaft 5, journaled at its upper end in the frame 1 and at itslower end in a spider having radial arms 3 3, secured directly to thelegs 2 2, the lower end of said shaft resting, directly upon a metalhearing, which is supported in turn by a number of metal standards 4 4,rigidly secured directly to the floor, as clearly illustrated in Figs. 1and3. The

rotary table 6 carries upon its upper surface.

all of the mechanism and material for effecting the armoring of thecable, and said mech upper face of the rotary table 6, the reels beingheld in position by adjustable screws, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 3.43 43 43 are guiderolls secured directly to the rotary table 6 andstandard 7 by rigid arms 44 .44 44, their function being to guide thearmoring-strips to the guideways before-they enter the armoringdies. 33is an electric motor orequivalent source of power-secured beneath theframe 1 of the machineiand-liaving on one end of its armature-shaft abeveled pinion adapted to drive a bevel gear-wheel 18, secured directlyto the hollow shaft 5. 1-9 is a gear-wheel journaled directly to anupward extension of the frame 1, said gear-wheel meshing with agearwheel 20, which in turn is adapted to drive a gear-wheel 2lva-ndapinion 22, carried upon 1 the same shaft and meshing with an additionalgear-wheel23, carried by another shaft having upon its ppper end apinion 24,'meshing with a gear-wheel 25 upon a shaft carrying a beveledpinion 26, which meshes with a bevel gear-wheel 27 upon a shaft carryingat its other end a pinion 28, meshing with pairs of gear-wheels '29 29,adapted to drive two pairs of feeding-rolls1212 13 13 in such manner astofeed the metal armoring-s trips 14 14 through the guideways in thetrough 11 to the dies 8 8, said trough, dies, and supports '9 and 10 forthe dies, together with the immediately-connected gear-wheels andpinions 20 to 29, inclusive, being supported and carried by the rotarytab le6, so that the gear-wheel 20 as it rotates around the gear-wheel19 will impart gearing. The dies 8 8, trough 11, feeding-rolls 12 12 1313, and guideways in the trough are substantially like the same partsdisclosed in the before-mentioned patents and need no furtherdescription here. 30 is a bevel-pinion meshing with the bevel gear-wheel27 and also with an additional hollow bevel gear- Wheel 31, which isjournaled'in the upper end ism for effecting the resultsought. It isfound, however, that with such a mechanism.

there is necessarilymuch momentum, owing to the weightof the table 6andthe mechanism and armoring material carried thereby,-

and that serious damage maybe imparted to thecable upon varying orstopping the application of power to the driving gear-Wheels 18. For-thepurpose of overcoming the evil effects of this momentum I have providedbraking mechanism in the, nature of} two curved-brake-shoes 34 34,having movement toand from the outer cylindrical face ofthe I table 6,saidbrake-sh oes, being connected by toggle-levers 35 35 to rigid. arms,36 36, supported at their inner ends directly by the framel, K

37 37 are links connected at their upper ends to thetogglede'vers-35 351and at their lower ends to brake-controlling.levers 38 38,

fulcrumed as shown and connected in turn by links 39 39 and a cross bar.or pin 40 to' a treadle 41, 42 being a strong spiral spring for normallymaintaining the outer end of the treadle in its upper position and thebrakeshoes 34 out of mechanical contact with' the cylindrical face ofthe rotarytable 6. l a

The operation is as follows: The insulated;

cable 16, as shown in Fig.4 of the drawings,

'is passed downward from a supply-reel (not shown) located in a roomand; on afloor above 1 the machine and in such quantity as may bedesired. The armoring-strips-14 l4 arewound upon the reels 15 15 andsecured. in positions inthe manner shown in 'Figs. land 3 of the Thefree ends thereof-are then passed around theguide-rolls 43 43 43 43 andinto the guideways in the trough 1-1 and bedrawings.

tween the feeding-rolls 12 12 and 13 13 to the dies 8 8, after. whichthe machine is set in motion by applyingpower in the 'proper directionin any. preferredmanner to the bevel gear-wheel 18, thereby rotating-thehollow shaft 5, and hence the rotary tablet, in the direction shown bythe arrow in Fig.2 of the drawings. Consequentlythegear wheel 19 impartsmotion to theseveral-gear-Wheels 125. indicated by the arrows,thereby-imparting 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, and 27 in the directions tothe two pairs of feeding-rolls1212 and 13 13 motion in the properdirections to feed said strips forward to the dies'in thesame man- 1 asdisclosed in my before-mentioned patents. Hence as the table rotatesaround the cable 16 it is armored and drawn forward by the armoringaction of'th'e mechanism, passing downward through the hollow shaft 5and opening in the floor as a completed article 17.

At the same time motion is imparted by the gear-wheel 27 to thebevel-pinion 30 and from it-to the bevel gear-wheel 31, thus causing the5 friction-rollers 32 to prevent the cable from being unnecessarilytwisted or strained by the armoring action already described. In otherwords, the friction-rollers act as a brake upon the forward or twistingaction due to the pressure of the armoring action upon the suspendedinsulated cable 16, so that as the cable is thus armored it passes outand is received and stored in a room below in such quantity as may bedesired. Should there be any tendency for the rotary table and itssupported mechanism and armoring material to run wild by reason of itsmomentum, the attendant simply applies the brake by placing his footupon the treadle 42, thereby causing the brake-shoes 34 to come intomechanical contact with the lateral face of the rotary table through theagency of the connecting mechanism described and shown. When the supplyof armoring-strips becomes exhausted, it is only necessary to supplantthe reels shown in the drawings with an additional pair of reels havinga further supply of armoring-strips and to splice the outer or free endsof the strips already used, after which the process of armoring iscontinued as before. In a similar manner when it becomes necessary toadd further cable it is only required to splice and insulate theadjoining end of an additional cable to the end of the one already beingarmored in a manner well understood by those skilled in the art. In thisway armoredcables may be constructed of any desired length.

For practicing my improved method of armoring cables I do not limitmyself to the use of the specific mechanism illustrated in theaccompanying drawings and hereinbefore described. I believe it isbroadly new with me to armor a cable of indefinite length by forcing oneor more armoringmtrips around the cable in the manner disclosed in mybefore-mentioned patents and in such manner as to give to the armor whenin place about the cable a fixed or set nature and to carry themechanism which thus effects the armoring and the supply of material forsuch apparatus continuously around the cable to be armored, and in theapplication of this generic feature lies the essence of this invention;nor do I limit the practice of my invention to the armoringofelectric'cables, as

it may obviously bev utilized in the manufacture of fiexible tnbes ofindefinite length composed of one or more metal strips forced throughdies in the manner hereinbefore described, and my claims are designed tobe of such scope as to include the manufacture of such tubes; nor do Imake any claim hereinafter to the mechanism disclosed in the presentapplication for practicing the method of armoring electric cables, ashereinafter claimed, as such mechanism constitutes the subject-matterofa separate application filed of even date herewith and bearing SerialNo. 117,810.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States, is"

1. The described method of armoring an insulated electric cable,consisting in continuously rotating the armoring material around thecable and simultaneouslycausing it to be forced into successive spiralsabout the outer surface thereof with a set which prevents it fromunwinding.

2. The described method of armoring an insulated electric cable,consisting in continuously rotating the armoring material around thesame and simultaneously forcing itforward therearound with a set whichprevents it from unwinding, the operation being such that the cable isfed continuously forward by the armoring action thereon.

3. The described method of armoring an insulated electric cable,consisting in continuously rotating one or more metal armoringstripsaround the same and simultaneously forcing said strip or strips forwardtherearound with a set which prevents it from unwinding, the operationbeing such that the cable is fed continuously forward by the action ofthe armoring strip or strips.

4. The described method of armoring an insulated electric cable,consisting in continuously rotating two armoring-strips around the sameand simultaneously forcing said strips therearound and giving to them aset which causes them to secure the cable and overlap each other, thearmoring action also causing the completed armored cable to be fedcontinuously forward.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

ED'WIN T. GREENFIELD.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM T. RUETE, CHARLES J. KiN'rNIJR.

IOC

